


A Chance

by WhereTheStoryStarts



Category: Original Work
Genre: Coming of Age, F/M, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Growing Up, Romance, Small Towns, Stars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:02:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28770534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhereTheStoryStarts/pseuds/WhereTheStoryStarts
Summary: A last night.  A future.  And stars everywhere.





	A Chance

She twirled around slowly, eyes trained on the cold expanse of stars above her, bursting out of the sky, somehow so close and so far away all at once. Malcolm found he was more concerned about the uneven ground beneath her bare feet and how close she was to the brittle drop-off, Lexie's laugh low and clear as she nearly stumbled into a blackberry bramble, only his hand reaching out and snagging around her warm waist keeping her from capsizing right into it. He opened his mouth to say something exasperated when his eyes met hers, no worry in them for once, just playfulness and peace. The first time in a long time he'd seen her look anything like that.

So how could he say anything as she snaked out of his hold? Trailing fingers down his arm as she went and making his skin prickle with gooseflesh, standing square in front of him as she ordered, “Dance with me.”

Malcolm couldn't do anything but grin for a second, looking at Lexie framed in the inky blue night, before his eyes darted down to the village below them. He could almost swear the ticking of the old church clock was audible even here, far above everyone and everything they knew. “Your dad would murder us if he knew where we were. He made me promise.”

“Uhg, why are you talking about my dad?” Lexie gave him a very unimpressed look, before shaking her head. “You have seriously no game, Mal. Seriously.” Turning away from him and not looking back, Lexie wandered over to the edge and eased down to the ground, letting her feet dangle over as the dry dust settled where she'd disturbed it. Neither of them said anything for a minute, the buzzing of stray mosquitoes and other night bugs suddenly loud in his ears, where before they had been filled with her. He wanted to go and sit by Lexie. Try that arm around her waist thing again, even though they were no longer officially boyfriend and girlfriend. Malcolm missed her so much sometimes it was like rocks were crushing his guts, stabbing dully and heavily at his insides. Missed her so much his mind would fill with memories of days and nights with Lexie, like he had a video running through his head, bombarding him with flashbacks, and there wasn't room for anything else. “I leave soon. You know that.”

“I do.” He did. Reaching right down into his mangled guts for a bit of courage, Malcolm dragged his feet, new blue boots suddenly weighing an unnatural amount, over to the edge and slowly, carefully, lowered himself down next to Lexie, fingers closing around the rock ledge. This close he didn't look down at the town, dark and distant as it neared two A.M. It was too high, too far to fall.

But he sat there, for her, and Lexie leaned against him, her quiet, “Thank you,” proof she still remembered his fear, for all Malcolm loved this place as much as her. Their place.

“Do you think we'll be okay?” Lexie asked it quietly, softly. Seriously, and Malcolm kind of hated himself for the little laugh that forced its way out of his throat before he could swallow it.

“Maybe. We've got a chance, right?” Lexie more than him, but Malcolm had always known that. Just as he knew the last thing she was talking about was their relationship.

But it was true, wasn't it? They had a chance. Malcolm looked up, instead of out, at the diamonds littering the sky above him and decided he was going to find his.


End file.
